>>Let me put it in other words. Before, and even after, Columbus "discovered" the New World, Europeans were also killing each other quite frequently. Hey, even when tired of fighting each other, they move the war to the east. Now, do you think that arabs were fighting each other even more than their contemporary Europeans? or Native Americans for that matter?
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>Lets see...around the time of Columbus, it would have been the Turks beating up on everyone in the Middle East. Pretty nasty time, unless you compare it to the depredations of the Mongols before them.
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>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_Empire#Growth_.281453.E2.80.931683.29

Yes, my point, pretty violent times, unless you think it was different in other parts of the world, so why bring them here for the current events? Pretty lame justification, if not racism.

By the way, I clicked your link out of curiosiy, and the first thing I read is:

The growth of Ottoman power can be grouped into two main, characteristic periods. The first period is one of stable conquest and growth; from the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, to the death of Suleiman the Magnificent, in 1566. This was a period of amazing achievements for the Ottoman Empire. The second period shows the characteristics of a big, stable state with the main changes occuring in the social life.